ACS Managing Director: Couriers processing “around 20,000 packages a day”

Cyprus’ courier services have been under immense pressure over the past few weeks, as a result of a surge in Cypriots shopping online from both local retailers and abroad.

The Managing Director of courier service ACS, Christoforos Potamitis, told InBusinessNews in an interview that there has been an increase in the range of 35% in online orders, with the number following an upward trend since mid-November. There have hence been some delays in delivering parcels.

The problem is not just local but European as well, and it is being attributed to a massive surge in the use of the new Chinese online shopping platform Temu, which has taken the market by storm and become a global phenomenon.

Potamitis said the courier industry is under immense pressure; indicatively, he said, while the company was delivering around 10,000-13,000 parcels a day just a few months ago, it is currently delivering roughly 20,000 packages daily.

“Online shopping is now the Cypriots’ first choice; people are bolder and no longer scared to order,” said Potamitis.

And while his company made provisions in anticipation of the holiday surge, “we made provisions for a 15% increase and we have 35%”. He said the increase began in mid-November.

He said the majority of orders processed by ACS are from Cypriot companies, though there are also large accounts from abroad – Greece as well as the rest of Europe.

To deal with the increased workload, ACS has opened two additional, temporary Christmas delivery points (one in Nicosia and another in Limassol, the two busiest towns according to Potamitis) to process parcels, offering the public more options to pick up their packages before the Christmas holidays.

“The company is taking various actions to ensure people get their parcels before or during the holidays. This is our goal; to ensure that from the moment the parcels have arrived in Cyprus, they can be picked up,” said Potamitis, as he also urged the public to be a bit patient.

As he said, while people are mostly patient, there are some who like to protest.